CH8 - Survey Research Flashcards
survey research
quantitative social research technique - systematically ask many people the same questions then record and analyze answers
Can ask in survey about
Behavior - how frequently did you do this
Attitudes/opinions/beliefs - what do you think
Characteristics - demographics
Expectations - do you plan to do this? what do you predict
Self-classification - political stance, social class
Knowledge - who is prime minister
Advise against using surveys to ask what kind of question?
Why questions unless you want to discover subjective understanding and informal theory - does not substitute development of causal theory
Limitation of survey research
what people say may differ from what people do
Survey research is often called
Correlational
can use questions as control to approximate for causality
Survey researcher follows what kind of approach
Deductive
theoretical or applied research problem and end with empirical measurement and data analysis
interview schedule/questionnaire
set of questions to read to the respondent by an interviewer who also records responses
Steps to survey research
1- hypotheses, type of survey, response categories, layout
2- plan how record data, pilot
3 - target population, sampling frame, sample size, select sample
4 - locate respondents, conduct interviews, record data
5 - enter data into computers, recheck all data, statistical analysis
6- methods and findings in research report, present findings to others for critique and eval
Administration of survey research requires…
Organization and accurate record keeping
three principles for writing effective survey questions
keep it clear
keep it simple
keep the respondents perspective in mind
What to avoid when writing questions
- avoid jargon, slang, abbreviations
- Avoid ambiguity, confusion, vagueness
- Avoid emotional language - adjectives
- Avoid prestige bias - most doctors say
- Avoid double-barrelled questions
- Do not confuse beliefs with reality
- Avoid leading questions - you don’t smoke do you?
- Avoid asking questions beyond respondents responsibilities - how did you feel when you were 6, what do you know about this
- Avoid false premises - post office is open too many hours - should the hours be 4 hrs later or open earlier - cant oppose the entire premise
- Avoid asking about distant future - attitudes
- Avoid double negatives
12 - Overlapping categories 10-15, 15-20
Threatening questions
Respondents likely to cover up or lie about their true behavior or beliefs because they fear a loss of self-image or may appear to be engaging in undesirable or deviant behavior
underreport illness and disability
techniques to increase truthful answers to threatening questions
Context and wording of question itself
Ask threatening questions only after a warm-up when an interviewer has developed rapport and trust with respondents - tell respondents they want honest answers.
Embedding a threatening response within more serious activities it may be made to seem less deviant
Social Desirability
Respondents give a normative response or a socially acceptable answer rather than giving a truthful answer
Mode of delivery
how the data were collected - telephone, in -person, over internet.
Knowledge questions
Majority of public cannot correctly answer elementary geography questions or identify important political documents
Knowledge questions threatening bc participants don’t want to appear ignorant
Skip or Contingency Questions
Contigency questions - question with two or more parts - answer to the first part of the question determines which of two different questions a respondent next receives
Congtigency select respondents for whom a second question is relevant - screen or skip questions
Disadvantages of closed questions
-suggest ideas respondent would not otherwise have
- respondents with no opinion or no knowledge can answer anyway
- respondents frustrated bc desired answer is not a choice
- confusing if too many choices
Disadvantages of open questions
-Different respondents give different degrees of detail in answers
- responses may be irrelevant or buried in useless detail
- comparisons become difficult
- coding difficult
Closed ended questions help to reduce
respondent fatigue.
tendency for participants to loose interest in participating if they perceive their participation to be taking too long or requiring too much effort
Disadvantages of a question form can be reduced by
mixing open-ended and closed-ended questions in a questionnaire
- change of pace, establish rapport
periodic probes or follow up questions can reveal a respondents reasoning
partially open questions
respondents are given a fixed set of answers to choose from but in addition an other category is offered so they can specify a different answer
Nonattitudes and the Middle Positions
Whether to include choices for neutral middle and non attitude positions
standard format question
type of survey research question in which the answer categories fail to include no opinion or don’t know
Quasi-Filter Question
A type of survey research question that includes the answer choice no opinion or don’t know
Full-filter question
Respondents are first asked about whether they have an opinion or know about a topic then only the respondents with an opinion or knowledge are asked a specific on the topic.
Floaters
respondents who lack a belief or opinion but who give an answer anyway if asked in a survey research question. Often their answers are inconsistent.
response set bias
a tendency of some respondents to agree and not really decide
order effect
an effect in survey research in which respondents hear some specific questions before others and the earlier questions affect their answers to later questions
funnel sequence
a way to order survey research questions in a questionnaire from general to specific
context effect
an effect in survey research when an overall tone or set of topics heard by a respondent affects how they interpret the meaning of subsequent questions
drunk driving law first vs. another thing first
matrix question
a type of survey research question in which a set of questions is listed in a compact form together all questions sharing the same set of answer categories
Mail and self-administered questionnaires
adv and disad
adv
- cheap
- wide geographical area
- mail anonymity and avoid interviewer bias
disad
- low response rates
- cannot control administration conditions
- No one is present to clarify questions or to probe for more info when incomplete answers given
- different respondents than mailed to
- cannot observe respondent’s reactions
-
online surveys
adv & disadv
adv
- online surveys are fast and inexpensive
- flexible design and visual images
disadv
- sampling and unequal internet access or use
- self selection is a problem
- protecting privacy and confidentiality
- complexity of questionnaire design
telephone interviews adv and disadv
adv
- Fast
- cheaper than in-person
disad
- higher cost and limited interview length
- need to have phone
- might not pick up call
- can’t use visual aids
face to face interviews
adv
- highest response rates
- longest questionnaires
- observe surroundings and use non-verbal communication/visual aids
disad
- high cost
- training supervision, personnel costs,
- interviewer bias
computer-assisted telephone interviewing
- survey research in which the interviewer sits in front of a computer screen and keyboard and uses the computer to read questions that are asked in a telephone interview, then enters answers directly into the computer
Ethical survey issues
- invasion of privacy - asking about personal beliefs/initimate actions
- voluntary participation - can refuse to participate at any time - research depends on voluntary cooperation
- exploitation of surveys and pseudosurveys - use of a survey format by someone who has no interest in learning info to persuade them to do something - political surveys spread neg info abt candidates
- misuse of survey results or of poorly designed or purposely rigged surveys
